© Reuters. STEINHOFF: THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER IS LEAVING HER FUNCTIONS
FRANKFURT/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The financial director of Steinhoff, Ben to the Barn, resigned on Thursday as the distributor of furnishings is seeking to stop the financial hemorrhage due to a scandal book.
The owner of brands Conforama, Mattress Firm and Poundland had reported in December a hole of two billion euros in its balance sheet and said that some of the credit facilities had been suspended, or even withdrawn, while its debt exceeds 10 billion euros.
The company has achieved up to now 400 million (€331 million) by selling a portion of its shares by the investment group of south africa PSG Group. It must also receive us $ 1.2 billion of debt of its south african subsidiary Steinhoff Africa Retail.
The distributor has announced in its last press release dated Ben the Barn left her position of chief financial officer and would be replaced temporarily by Philip Dieperink.
But, he said, Ben la Grange as its focus “on the preservation and the mobilization of liquidity within the group”, as well as on the finalization of the accounts for 2017.
Steinhoff also hiring an expert in debt restructuring for the position of director of restructuring.
In a presentation prepared for a meeting with creditors in London on 19 December, the group listed in Frankfurt had indicated that several of his lines of credit had been closed or had been suspended, an announcement that had been falling the action.
It was announced on Tuesday that it would reformulate its accounts for 2015, and even in those prior years, thus highlighting the scope of a scandal that has already cost billions of dollars of market capitalization.
The action Steinhoff, who has lost around 80% in a month, has rebounded by more than 25% on Thursday, 8.60 rand. The shares are traded in Frankfurt has gained almost 22%.
(Christoph Steitz and Tiisetso Motsoeneng, Juliette Rouillon for French service, edited by Wilfrid Exbrayat)